Sword Art Online: Full Dive
by Romulous
Summary: Isa dives into an adventure when he realizes the world of Sword Art Online, is a death game.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well damn, it's been a while. I see my fanbase of 0 hasn't expanded yet xD **

**But I'm releasing this new Sword Art Online fanfic yay! I'll be keeping up with my other story, revenge. I'm planning to release 1 chapter of this, then 1 chapter of that and so on. This story should be a bit more organized than the other because I actually planned this whole story out in advance. I know how to begin it, end it, and everything in between. The names I use for this are all inspired by actual friends (fiends I should say). I've already planned the story out but I'm open to suggestions. Feel free to leave a review or suggestion and make sure to favorite it! If you like Naruto check out my other story Revenge. Enjoy ****J**

_**Chapter 1: Beginnings**_

_** 5:00 AM June 21**__**st**__** 2016**_

It was a cool morning in the Midwest. Still the birds chirped and the sun peeked out from behind a few lone clouds. A few buses could be heard, but not much commotion at all. After all it was only 5:00.

Somewhere in a fairly large house in this city of Aurora, an alarm pierced the air. A hand slammed down on the snooze button.

Isa sat up in his bed. The white covers were sprawled in a mess on the floor. That didn't look that bad compared to the medium sized room. Clothes and games were thrown across the wood floor. A table with a TV atop it sat next to a bookcase directly opposite of his bed. On the table was a PS3 and many game cases littering the table. On a nightstand next to his bed sat a sleek black laptop. 3 bottles of water, all of which were half empty, were placed on top of the laptop.

Isa yawned and stretched. He sat there for a few seconds with a blank, dull look on his face. Then almost instantaneously, a smile spread across his face. He got up and stretched again. He was a tall, tan boy. Dark curly hair sat on top of his head and he gave a messy look. He had a "cute" face, with dimples but he rarely smiled. He got down on his hands and knees and stuck his hand under his bed. After fumbling around for a minute he pulled out a small metal box. He undid the latch on the front and popped open the box. A neat wad of bills, mostly 20s, and 100s, sat inside the box.

He grabbed the large amount of money and threw it on his bed and proceeded to get dressed. All that money was hard earned from a long time of work at a terrible fast food place. He worked at McDonalds, played piano at gigs, assisted in Tae Kwon Do, and took an internship at a law firm. On top of that he kept pretty decent grades and played point guard on his basketball team as a starter. He also took Kendo lessons at night every other day and ran cross country every day. So his life during the school year was basically booked. He'd been saving up since freshman year and he finally made 5000$

That 5000$ was going to the new game being released that day, Sword Art Online. It was a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) and to play it he had to purchase the virtual reality headgear called the NerveGear. The NerveGear itself would cost 3000$ and the game would be another 1000$. Plus this wasn't even the game release date. This was the BETA. Only the first 300 people to preorder would get access to the beta. This was only going on in 3 states and his town was one of the GameStops that would be offering this, so only the first 100 people to preorder would have access. In other countries they would do this at more locations but for the American servers only 1000 people would be online during beta.

Then after the Beta, all the countries servers would merge and be one big server. It was a good plan, and it was sure to attract a lot of people. But fortunately, most people didn't think Sword Art Online would be such a good idea, and were going to wait after preorder. Fortunately for Isa that is. Isa threw some black jeans on and grabbed a black shirt that said "Anime Freak" in red on it. Then he grabbed a blue zip up jacket and pulled it on. He grabbed his "Carnival KD VII's" **A/N: Sorry I'm a bit of a sneakerhead xC** and put them on his feet.

Isa then brushed his curly hair down and picked the wad of bills off of the bed and shoved it in his pocket. He grabbed his phone and placed it in the same pocket. He walked over to his door and quietly opened it and tiptoed out of his room as regards for his mom across the hall. It WAS 5:00 after all. He ran downstairs and down the hall past the kitchen.

He grabbed his keys and opened the front door and after exiting locked it. The GameStop wasn't that far away, maybe a few blocks away. He grabbed his skateboard, which had Plan B in big letters on the bottom, and skated down the street. He moved on to the sidewalk dodging a few people who seemed pissed off to be bothered this early in the morning.

As he neared the GameStop he already saw a small line. From first glance Isa could tell it wasn't 100 people. Maybe around 50 or 60. He powerslid and stopped in front of the store. He hopped off his skateboard and popped it into his hand. He walked towards the line and saw a familiar face. It was his friend Avan. Avan was also a tan tall boy. He was a bit taller than Isa and bigger. His hair was straight and wavy. He wore a black shirt and blue pants similar to Isa's look.

For as long as time could tell, they'd been friends. They often played games together and even went to school together. Along with his other friend Sonny they'd been best friends. The three of them were inseparable.

"Hey! Isa, not as bad as we thought eh?" Avan said with a smile.

"Yeah, I expected more. I guess maybe since our town is a bit smaller most people would head for the other states." Isa replied.

"I'm pretty damn excited," Avan said while his grin got bigger "this is going to be so fun dude."

Isa smiled. "Hell yeah it is. Playing an awesome ass game with one of my best friends!"

"Wait, why isn't Sonny here?"

"Well he said he'd rather wait till the actual release date." Isa said with a sigh.

"Damn, he's dumber than I thought." Avan said.

"Is that a new board?" he asked.

"Cade bought it for me. Pretty nice board too." Isa said as he stepped on the board.

He put his back foot on the back of the board and "scooped" with his foot and jumped up as the board turned. He landed a bit sloppy but didn't fall.

"Lost my touch a bit." Isa chuckled.

"That's an understatement." Avan said.

"Fuck off." Isa said as he lightly pushed him.

_**6:55AM June 21**__**st**__** 2016 **_

_**GameStop  
**_

There was now a bigger line in front of the GameStop. Masses of people stood in line before the double doors. About 500 people were lined up waiting. 2 of those people were Avan and Isa. Luckily for them they were close to the front of the line.

Avan looked at the hundreds of people behind him. "Damn bro, that's crazy. I'm glad were not back there."

"You said it. There are only 5 more minutes before this shit ends and we get our games." Isa said back.

They stood there impatiently tapping their feet and other very annoying habits until the moment they had so anxiously been waiting for arrived. Behind the glass doors, only the people close to the front could see, but a nervous looking young GameStop employee walked up to the doors. He was sweating a bit and his hand shook as he undid the lock on the door and slowly opened the door.

It was amazing how hype people got over two combinations of glass and metal preforming a simple task of opening. Or rather how hype they got about the meaning behind them opening. Meaning they could get their games that they'd been waiting months for.

As the GameStop employee dove to the side and barely got away with his life, the two men behind the counter looked smug about their safe position behind the barrier. To them it was the divider between life and death.

People rushed around the counter, saying they'd like to preorder Sword Art Online and purchase the NerveGear. It was quite chaotic with the ample chatter. Some random people conversing about what class they were going to choose or how good the NerveGear would simulate reality. Avan and Isa were some of the only ones not talking. They stood quietly moving up in line. They looked quite ticked at how loud the store was.

Eventually they made it to the front. Isa propped his board against the counter. He stepped up to one man while Avan stepped up to the other.

"Yo Isa!" the slick haired man who Isa walked up greeted Isa.

"Rob, it's been a while!" Isa said to the man who was apparently named Rob.

Isa had been to GameStop many times, but this guy had always been there. He always supplied him with the best deals, saved games for him, hell he even gave some stuff for free. He'd know Rob since he was 10. It'd been 6 years since that day he met him in the store and Rob hadn't changed a bit with his outgoing personality and love for games.

"Here to cop Sword Art Online?" Rob said as he reached under the counter in preparation.

"Yeah, and the NerveGear."

"Gotcha!" Rob said as he walked to the back and unlocked the case which held all the NerveGear helmets.

He grabbed one off the top shelf and put it in a big GameStop bag. He reached under the counter and grabbed the case that said SAO Sword Art Online on it. It had a picture of an oddly shaped floating castle with clouds surrounding it. Rob stuffed that in the bag too. Then he reached into his pocket a pulled out something small that looked like an SD card.

"Look, the developers of SAO gave one of these to one shop in each country. It's supposed to be a game guide for SAO and you insert it into your NerveGear or something. Apparently it gives you some tips on starting the game. We were supposed to randomly put it in a game case, but we're cool enough that'd I'd give you this deal any time." Rob whispered to Isa in a hushed tone.

He plopped the card into Isa's outstretched hand and Isa slipped it into his pocket.

"Thanks dude! I can't thank you enough for this. But aren't you buying the game for yourself?" Isa asked with a grin.

"Not until after the release."

"Different strokes." Isa said with a shrug.

"By the way, your total is $4,599.50." Rob said with an evil grin.

Isa knew he had more than enough but he still was struck with astonishment. He pulled the majority of the bills and handed them to rob. After a long and extremely boring process of counting all the money and distributing the change, he handed the bag with the merchandise to Isa.

"Have a great day!" Rob said.

Isa didn't see Avan anywhere, so he grabbed his skateboard and heavy bag and went outside. He leaned against the wall outside and watched as people looked in envy at him. He wasn't afraid of being robbed, he knew as much as people wanted this, nobody would steal it most likely. Plus the police were at every corner here so only a very highly unintelligent criminal would attempt something.

He pulled out his phone and swiped to unlock it. He saw a text message from Avan.

'_you were taking hella long dude so I left. I'll be on as soon as I get home so just add me as a friend when you get in game. my name is gonna be Avan and afterwards when we get off SAO we can just hang out on skype. see you in game __J__'_

Isa got up from leaning and put his phone in his pocket. He hopped on his skateboard and rode home with his bag on his arm. His arm was sore by the time he was home and he wanted to lay down as he walked in the door.

When he walked he shouted "Mama!?"

He got silence in response. He looked at the digital clock on the hallway wall. _8:00_. He saw a note on the wall.

_I went to work, clean the house before you play your games._

_Mama_

Isa sighed and put his bag on the kitchen table and got to work. He scrubbed the oven and washed all the dirty dishes and put them in their respective cabinets. Then he worked his way to the bathrooms cleaning the toilets and floors. He dusted, swept, and cleaned all the floors. He vacuumed and took out the trash. Then, just to kiss up, he cooked some lasagna in the oven and placed it in the fridge for his mom.

By the time Isa was done with these strenuous tasks it was around 10.

'Finally, I can play my game!' Isa thought as he ran up the stairs to his room. He shut the door to his room, after placing a paper on it that said "Please don't yank off the helmet, just text me".

Apparently, the game had a feature that you could register your number, and you'd receive texts in-game, that is if you were in a safe zone where you couldn't get attacked.

Isa plopped the gamestop bag on his bed, and pulled SAO and the nervegear out. He unboxed both things and plugged in the NerveGear into the wall. Apparently it could survive years just on sheer battery power but he didn't wanna take a chance. He inserted the chip that said SAO on it in a small notch in the NerveGear helmet. Remembering that he also had the chip Rob gave him, he reached into his pocket and fished it out. He inserted it into another notch in the helmet meant for SD cards.

"Thank Rob!" Isa said out loud as he slipped the headgear onto his head and laid down on his bed. He powered it on and looked around.

In front of him were the words **'Welcome to NerveGear. Calibrating... calibrating... calibrating...**

**loading default settings... setting up... may take a few moments... loading game... Detected! Model :Sword Art Online V1.1...launching...**

They appeared as big bold letters on a white background. He stared in awe as the game booted up and the world filled with color.

The words this time appeared le**ss **harsh and in a lighter color and in the background was the castle spotted on the cover of the game.

**Welcome to Sword Art Online! We may take a few moments to calibrate your setting for optimal game performance. In order for us to detect movement, stand up and pat your whole body down, then shake your arms and legs.**

Somehow, the game seemed to free his control of his actual body movement while still plugged in. It was an odd sensation, seeing an entirely different world than your limbs were in. He thought the request rather odd to feel himself up and down but did it nonetheless and he could no longer feel his body in the real world.

He looked up again and was presented with the choice '**Create Character?**' He didn't know how to choose it, so he just thought about pressing the button and it took him to the next screen. It was a detailed character selection screen. He thought about what his he wanted his character to look like, and suddenly he saw his limbs. He was given a short view of what his character looked like. It looked like how Isa looked in the real world, athletic and tan with curly hair. Except his character was a little bit taller, maybe an inch or two.

He could see his hands when he looked down and his feet. He clenched his hands and found it felt like the real world. He was now presented with a big screen in a big black room. There was a pedestal with a keyboard in front of it. The screen said '**Enter Username and password**' and he typed in 'Isa' with a moments hesitation in the Username slot. It also showed'**Phone Number?**' as an optional thing.

He put his in so he could receive texts from his Mom. He was sent to the last screen which said '**Choose Class**' This one was a bit of a dilemma for him, there were a lot of options. Archer, One Handed, Two Handed, Mage, and Beast Tamer were just a few. He decided in the long run, One Handed seemed like the best idea, and he selected that.

Then, in a blink of an eye, his world dissipated. Things changed and in a swirl of color he was in the Sword Art Online world.

He was on top of a cliff. The grass flowed slowly in the breeze and Isa had an amazing view of the blue sky. He stretched his arms and took in the beautiful world around him. Everything was so high def it seemed like reality. He looked around and saw creatures roaming the prairie nearby. Then he felt his back. There was a short sword and a small shield on his back. He pinched his two fingers together and a menu opened.

He clicked a button and he pulled up his inventory. 'Dingy Longsword' and 'Scrappy Shield' were the names of his items. He unequipped his shield. Isa had actually planned to do this the whole time. He studied the perks and downfalls of these items and shields reduce mobility, by his calculations his agility should raise by a considerable amount of points.

He clicked back, then into skills. He was level one, but had 10 skill points to distribute. 'Hm, this is just beta, might as well test some stuff.' He put 5 into agility and 5 into swords.

Isa then backed out of the menu and started walking towards the prairie. He saw upon closer inspection that these creatures were boars. They had tags above the boar said 'Level 1 Prairie Boar'.

"Name's pretty suiting." Isa snickered. He ran up to one, pulling his sword from his back. The sword was a medium sized, lightweight, iron sword with a blue hilt. The boar noticed him and rushed towards the curly haired boy, small tusks outstretched. Isa thought on his feet, time seemed to move slow. He put one hand on the boars small head as he came up within a foot of it and sprung into the air into a flip. As he was upside down he started his arc with his sword, as it came crashing down on the boars back. The boars HP bar went down to zero and it exploded into crystals.

Isa looked in the side of his screen and saw his XP bar go up about ¼ of the way. He saw about 2 other boars rushing towards him. He knew 2 could defeat him, but his confidence was soaring.

As 1 closed in on him he leaned back to the left and slashed at the back of the boar taking ¾ of it's HP away. The other boar reached him and he rolled back, barely avoiding a blow. He started to feel something in his sword. Like it was begging to unleash power. As the boars charged again, he thrusted his sword at them. He was engulfed by a white sheet of wind and he pierced through the boars, turning them into crystalline pieces.

He fought boars about half an hour more, which got him to level 6. He retreated back to the cliff where he originally was.

'What the hell was that I did earlier? I know it was a sword skill, but which one?' Isa thought.

Then something popped into his vision on the left side of his screen. '**SAO Guide Tip: The One Handed's first Sword Skill is called Rushing Stab.**'

"The chip!" Isa thought out loud. "This must be one of the tips from the chip Rob gave me." Isa opened up his menu. He had 15 skill points and put 10 into sword and 5 into surveillance, which gave him a better idea about his surroundings.

He checked his items and had a decent amount of col. **A/N: The currency if you didn't know **He also had a few items he could sell, and a new jacket. His character was in a default outfit, which had a wool, green poncho and wool pants and that just didn't suit him. He pulled out the jacket. 'Leatherskin Jacket'

He equipped it. The jacket was indeed, a black, sleek leather jacket. He kept the front unbuttoned as it was fairly hot. Under the jacket, a bit of the green could be seen, and it looked much better than the green abomination by itself.

Isa turned the opposite way of the prairie, where he could see a town in the distance. He headed towards it with a cheery air.

As he neared the town, he saw only a few people running around. 'Others must have started earlier than me, damn it.' Isa thought.

He approached a fairly large town, and looked up. He saw a tag that said 'Town of Beginnings'

Isa walked around, looking at kiosks with signs over them and shops. The town was fairly loud, since there were still NPC's walking around and looking at things. He walked for a bit, seeing players occasionally doing the same thing he was, exploring, and he finally found his destination.

It was a little shop, with a sign on the side that had a sword and a shield on it. Isa sighed and pushed open the door. He was greeted by a cheery redhead NPC, and he actually didn't know what to do.

'Should I just... talk to her?' Isa thought.

Suddenly, a black haired, buff, boy burst in the door. He looked at me and my confused look.

"Just ask her to buy a weapon, and she'll pull up a menu." The boy said, quietly, but quite impatiently.

"Can, I buy one of your weapons?" Isa asked the NPC.

"Sure!"

The NPC pulled up a menu, displaying all of her items for sale.

She didn't have much, of course he was a low level, she wouldn't sell much to him. He decided to purchase 3 teleport crystals, 4 healing crystals, a sword called "Iron Beauty", and a new pair of black jeans. After this splurge he still had about half his col left. Apparently farming boars got you a lot of money.

"Pretty nice for a little level 6." Said the black haired boy.

Isa looked up and saw the boy in front of him, expressionless. He had on a sleek, black jacket and faded pants. His sword gleamed on his back with a red florescent aura.

"Well, what level are you?" Isa asked taking offense in what the boy said.

The boy seemed to detect the hostility in his voice and chuckled. "I didn't mean it as an insult, I simply meant it as a fact... that amount of col for a level 6, must have gone farming. Anyway, my name is Kirito and I'm level 15."

Isa did a double take.

"L-level 15? How long did it take you?" He asked in astonishment.

"Well, if you know certain things, you pass certain limits." Kirito said as he winked. "I'll see you around- Isa." He paused as he said the name.

"How-"

"I have a pretty high observation skill." And he walked out of the door.

Isa followed him, bursting through the door, but running into a boy on the way out.

It was a very handsome curly haired boy. He had on some armor that was similar to Isa's except for the jacket and he carried a bow on his back.

"Isa?" The boy said as he stared at him.

"Avan? Is that you?" Isa said. When he took a closer look, he realized that this player looked exactly like Avan in the real world, except a little more built.

"Wow, you actually look pretty cool!" Avan praised, looking Isa up and down.

"Wish I could say the same for you." Isa said jokingly.

Avan pushed him. "So what level are you?" He asked, looking at the hilt of the sword on his back.

"Level 6, about to be 7. What about you?"

"Shit! I'm only level 4. The official game isn't even out and you've already gotten ahead of me." Avan said with a wide grin.

Isa walked out of the shop as Avan followed him. He peeked around the corner briefly to see if Kirito was still within viewing range. As Isa expected, he was not.

"You're not that far behind, so I say we should travel to the next spot together. I'm trying to move out there before night." Isa said as they walked through the village.

"Well we better get going then."

"Wait!" Isa said and stopped. He pulled up the in game menu and opened up party. Then he clicked send invitation. It showed a list of players near him and he clicked 'Avan'

Avan pulled up his menu and he accepted the invite. Now when Isa looked at his in game interface at the top of the screen, under his health bar and his name, he saw Avan's health bar and name.

"Alright! Let's go then."

And the two walked out the village.

Avan and Isa strolled through a big, dense forest. They walked past tall trees and vines, hearing the occasional sound of a monster.

"So where have you been before you found me?" Isa asked Avan.

Avan scratched his head. "Well, I explored the first town a little bit, then I left and I trained for a while. The whole reason I came to the shop was to buy a few different arrows, but I forgot."

They walked on in silence for a bit.

"So what'd you buy in the shop?"

"Well, I bought a new weapon and a few teleport crystals. This skills system is awesome, you can basically upgrade anything!" Isa said. "I've put a lot of points into sword skill and agility."

Avan pulled out his bow and inspected it as he walked, flipping it over. "Yeah, it is pretty cool. I can upgrade the strength of my bow and I can get different bow skills. Like I have a skill where I can shoot pure light out of my bow."

"That's pretty-" Isa started, but he was cut short by a growl.

In front of Isa and Avan were 4 or 5 scaly, humanoid lizards. They had long tongues that drooped out of their mouths. In there mouths were pointed, sharp teeth that seemed menacing even from where Isa was standing. They had metal chestplates on and brandished big steel axes.

Isa looked above one of the monster's heads and saw 'Lizardman Lv. 5'.

"We can take these guys." Isa said as he pulled out his sword. It had a red and black hilt. The blade shined in the dim light that came in through the leaves in the tall trees above them.

Avan pulled out his bow and shot a lizard in the chest with an arrow and quickly pulled out another arrow.

Isa ran up to one and slashed it's legs with blue aura coming from his sword. Then he spun around, barely dodging a swipe from another lizards long claws and slashed downwards on his main target. It exploded into crystals and he jumped back as Avan sent a flaming arrow soaring at 2 of the lizards in front of him.

As he dove back the arrow exploded, taking down the two lizards. Isa ran up to one of the remaining two with an arrow in its chest. He slashed his blade and the lizard countered it with his axe and pushed back. It sent Isa towards the ground and he lost a little bit of health.

He rolled away as the lizard smashed his axe down where Isa's head just was. Isa jumped onto his feet and met his sword with the lizards axe and twisted it. The axe fell out of his clawed hand and Isa lunged forward as his sword was covered in red aura. The lizard stood there for a moment after he was impaled by the sword skill, then fell into crystal pieces just as Avan shot an arrow at the last lizard and he too broke into pieces.

Isa and Avan smiled and high fived. A screen popped up that showed the outcome of the battle. Isa leveled up to level 7 and got a few skill points. He also got a health crystal which he gave to Avan. They split up the col, and high fived with broad smiles on their faces. Then Avan proceeded to pick up the arrows that littered the ground and put them into his inventory.

Isa opened his menu and put points into swords, observation, and strength.

"That was pretty bad ass!" Avan said.

"Yeah... but these lizardmen, they couldn't just come from no where." Isa said as he looked around.

Avan snickered. "It's a game man. That's what things do."

Isa walked up to a tree near him. From the outside, the tree seemed sturdy and well. He saw a crack in the base of the tree and put both hands in. He attempted to pry it apart and found that it opened with ease.

He looked back and smiled at Avan. "But this isn't just any game. Things move and things think, in a way."

They looked inside the tree and found a hole that seemed to slope downwards like a slide.

"So what's the-" Isa started, but Avan all read jumped down the hole.

"WHOHOOOO!" He screamed as he slid down the hole.

Isa rolled his eyes and slid down the hole too.

Pretty soon Isa landed on a cold, wet cave ground on his behind. He stood up and shook himself off. He was about to tell Avan off when he saw Avan, behind a rock, put a finger to his lips, signaling Isa to be quiet.

Isa quietly ducked behind the same rock and peeked from behind it to look at what Avan was seeing. He saw 10 or so lizardmen surrounding a throne, with a larger lizardman sitting in it. The larger one had a gold crown on. He also had better silver armor on compared to the lesser lizardmen. Over his head read 'Lizardman Overlord Lv. 10'.

"Shit, we can't take these guys" Isa whispered to Avan. Avan nodded in agreement.

Isa pulled out a teleport crystal, squeezed it and whispered "Last Town."

Nothing happened. "I guess you can't teleport in the boss rooms..." Avan whispered.

"Well. You two come out from behind that there rock." A voice said.

The two looked at each other and slowly stood up. As soon as Isa stood up, a message popped up in the top right of his screen. '**Quick Tip: This is a side boss. Side bosses differ from main bosses, as they are not part of the main objective and can talk and plan like normal players. These bosses are highly dangerous but reward handsomely.**'

The overlord stood and beckoned them forward.

"Well, you little runts, I guess your here to challenge me. And I'll accept your challenge."

The two moved forwards as the lizardmen parted. The overlord stood up and grabbed a large scimitar.

Avan pulled out his bow and jumped back while Isa brandished his sword.

"Well geez, you win the award for cocky boss of the year." Isa said.

The overlord smirked and charged towards Isa. Avan shot arrow after arrow at the lizard but it just bounced off. The other lizards watched and cheered as the overlord took no damage.

He slashed his giant sword towards Isa and Isa ran his sword across the scimitar and rolled away. He jumped up and sliced at the lizard's neck and took away a little bit of health.

The overlord look irratated. Avan pulled his bowstring back and with a flash shot an arrow that pierced the lizard right in the heart. The overlord stopped for a second, his health dropped a little more, but his chestplate broke into pieces.

Avan smirked and pulled his bowstring back again as the overlord charged towards Isa and he shot the crown off of the lizard. The giant lizard stopped. His eyes glowed red and he started to shake.

"AUGH! I'M DONE WITH YOU PUNY LITTLE BITCHES!" the lizard growled and he opened his mouth. Green acid shot out of his mouth and Isa dove out of the way. The acid hit Avan head on and he crumpled up, his health lowering quickly.

"Damn it!" Isa said. He quickly threw Avan a health crystal.

Isa turned back towards the giant lizard.

"Don't touch my friends man!"

His sword glowed with red aura as he rushed towards the lizard.

The lizard and him met swords and they clanged. Isa jumped back from his sword and starting hacking at his legs. Then he rolled to the side and viciously slashed at the lizards unprotected side. He furiously slashed and hacked until he saw the boss's health bar at red. He jumped up in the air and looked into the lizards eyes.

"Congrats." The lizards said as Isa brought his sword down on the lizards head.

The giant lizard exploded into crystals. The white screen saying 'Congratulations' appeared. They got a ton of Col, a few arrows from the battle. He also got something called 'Acid Bottle' and 'Scaled Gloves.

Avan walked around and picked up the many scattered arrows on the ground. Isa pulled up his menu and opened his skill tree. He put points into agility, swords, and strength.

He then opened his inventory and equipped the leather gloves. He looked down at his hands and saw the black gloves stretched over his hands. He then pulled the acid bottle out of his inventory.

"Ay! Head's up." Isa said as he threw the bottle to Avan.

Avan caught it with one hand and looked at it. "I can make poisoned dipped arrows with this. Thanks!"

"Yeah, you'd have more use for it then I ever could."

"So what's our next move from here?" Avan asked as they walked through the forest

Isa pondered for a second, then replied "I think the best thing would be to take down the boss on this floor, so let's head to the closest town."

Isa and Avan walked into a tavern. They sat down at a table near a corner with a wood booth. There weren't many people in the tavern at this point in time, as it was night, but they still wanted secrecy.

"So, the first boss is apparently in a big room on this floor. I think we should find someone else to team up with as this boss is probably LV. 30." Isa said to Avan.

Avan scratched his head. "You wanna find someone here who wants to beat the boss? Or where were you planning on prospecting for these party members?"

"Well, I think-"

As Isa started his sentence, a man approached the front of their table. He wore white gloves, a sleeveless jacket and long black pants.

"I heard you were looking for a party member." The man said in a soft, but taunting voice.

"What of it? Eavesdropping isn't nice now." Isa said to the man with a cold stare.

The man opened his inventory and pulled something out of his inventory. A silver scythe appeared in his hands. "I can provide my expert services. I'm a pretty good scythe wielder."

Isa looked at the man. He saw the man's name 'Xale'. There was something off about him, he could tell just from one look. The cocky smile on his face, the scythe that seemed to glint in the dim light. At the same time the man seemed very safe, and he felt secure around him.

"Look, I'm gonna log out now, meet us here tomorrow at 5." Isa said, rubbing his head. The man nodded and walked away.

Isa opened up his menu and clicked log out, then looked at Avan one more time. He was already disappearing. Isa pressed confirm.

He woke up in his room and pulled the nervegear off his face. It was night, and he wanted to sleep, but he wanted to check one thing. He took a few minutes to stretch and got up. He went to google and searched 'Elxa'. Only one thing popped up. 'Famous hacker Elxa, moved on from shooters and targets MMORPG's.'

They showed his character in his previous MMORPG.

A cocky smile stood on his face.


	2. Chapter 2: Exla

**AN: I made some mistakes in the last chapter, skills aren't leveled up with points. Only strength and agility. I'll start implementing that in my newest chapters, and I probably will do a chapter 1 rewrite. Also, I made a typo saying mage in chapter one, there is no magic in SAO. Thanks for the feedback. By the way, I will make up some things in the story, this will not be exactly like SAO. I'll add in bosses and monsters that were never seen, if you don't like it, click out of the story right now. I want to be creative with this. Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy.**

**Chapter 2: Exla**

Isa opened his eyes and looked at the clock. **8:41**.

"Damn it. Woke up too early again." Isa said, slowly sitting up.

He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and saw he had a text from his mother. He read it and sighed.

_I have a work trip, conference in Miami. I left money on the table and I'll be back in 2 weeks. Stay safe. Love you!_

Isa was used to his mom leaving unexpectedly. His mom was a doctor, a famous one at that, so she was rarely home. He knew that she loved him though.

He rolled over to the right side of his bed and grabbed the Nervegear off the floor where he had placed it last night. He inspected it for a moment, then he put it over his head and turned on the power.

The familiar loading screen of Sword Art Online greeted him.

**Sound? OK**

**Sight? OK**

**Touch? OK**

**Taste? OK**

**Smell? OK**

Isa appeared in a small, dim tavern that he logged out in yesterday. He looked down at his hands again, he wasn't used to this feeling. After a few moments, Isa opened up his menu and looked at his friends list at his only friend, Avan. Avan wasn't online, so Isa walked out the tavern and surveyed the town around him.

Isa walked towards the exit of the town. He figured the best action now is to try to gain as much info about the game in the shortest amount of time. His next course of action was to level up to a point where it wouldn't be hard to beat the boss on this floor.

As he walked towards the end of the town, the events of last night, he didn't notice the man he walked into. The man he walked into had long, dark hair and was about Isa's build. He had dark red metal armor on, and wore a smug look on his face.

"Sorry." Isa said, and continued on.

"Watch where your going." The man said.

Isa stopped. "No need to be a dick."

Likewise, the man stopped. "Maybe you should watch where you go, huh?"

Isa kept walking as the man chuckled. The man wasn't on his mind as Isa walked down the path to the next town. He noticed to the right of him was a small mountain in the distance, and there was a trail that was barely visible. Isa stopped and inspected the area that seemed to be a rocky path. It was different from the rest of the road, littered with small and large rocks and the ground held reddish brown dirt.

Isa sighed and stepped onto the rocky path and headed towards the mountain. As he neared the small mountain, he noticed two creatures and ducked behind a large rock. He peeked his head out and saw two, large, furry creatures. They donned red metal chestplates and knee bracers. One had a large, two handed battle axe, and the other had a large one handed sword. Isa read the name above their heads.

**Minotaur Lord Guard Lv. Minotaur Lord Guard Lv. **

**'The Minotaur are extreme dangerous, but the kill reward is large.'** A message on the top left of his view said.

"Obviously. Fuck it." Isa said, and he darted out from the side of the rock. He lunged at the Minotaur closest to him and sliced the side of it's soft belly with his sword.

The minotaur's health dropped down a fourth. He rolled over behind the minotaur and readied his sword. Both minotaur turned Isa's way and he yelled out "Bring it on."

The minotaur with the sword rushed him and Isa ran his sword along his opponent's and ducked as the sword missed him by an inch. He forgot about the other, and barely dodged the battle axe, which sliced his shoulder. He flew back and saw his health dip down a little more than half.

Two large minotaur rushed at Isa and he ducked under one swing of an axe and sliced the minotaur's stomach. He quickly spun on his heel and slashed again at the same minotaur, catching the other on his backswing too. The minotaur were low in health, but still going strong. Isa met a battle axe with his sword and was instantly pushed back, and sent tumbling to the ground. His health was dipping dangerously low.

"Tch!" He grunted. He looked around for something to help him, and he finally spotted his golden ticket.

He saw a large rock not far behind the 2 monsters and he formulated a plan in his head.

"Might as well go for it!" Isa said and he ran towards the rock.

Eager minotaur saw their chance as their prey rushed them, but Isa was too quick. He dodged blows from the creatures and as he neared the rock, he launched himself off of it towards the minotaur. As he soared through the air towards them, purple aura covered his sword.

When he reached the two minotaur, he spun around in the air, switching between targets as fast as his body would let him spin. He landed crouched, and the two minotaur burst into crystals.

He encountered the congratulations screen and sighed in relief.

"Not much XP, but a ton of col!" He said, transferring his rewards to his inventory.

He saw one more thing besides the col. It was an item, gloves.

"Guardian Bracers?"

Isa had never seen bracers in the shop before. He quickly equipped them and saw that they were like gloves, except they seemed to be metal, and had a small gem in the palm.

'**The guardian bracers are a rare drop from minotaur only. There is less than a one percent chance of receiving them, but they do prove to be worth it if obtained. They allow the user who equips said bracers to use his or her free hand during one hand combat. She or he unlocks the ability to put points in for skills for this hand to lace in with combination attacks.**'

"Woah!" Isa exclaimed as he inspected the bracers that he donned. He punched the air and felt that familiar surge of power as his hand was coated in blue aura.

Isa opened up his inventory and selected a health crystal. He squeezed it and watched his health bar replenish. He then exited out his menu and continued on the path to the mountain. He didn't encounter any other creature until he reached the cave entrance. The cave wasn't big, but the opening was massive. Isa tried to look inside but was met with darkness and stumbled into the cave.

As soon as he entered the cave, a rock slammed down over the exit and torches lit the path. Isa looked back at the rock.

"No going back now, huh." He said, and he followed the torches.

After a while of advancing down a path, he came to a large opening and instantly saw his opponent. It was a larger, buffer version of the minotaur guards he fought. This minotaur towered over him by about 3 feet.

**'Vernius the Minotaur Lord' **

Isa noticed it had a purple cursor over it's head.

The minotaur lord had a large silver axe that seemed to gleam with the dim torchlight on his back. He slowly lifted it off of his back and pointed it towards Isa.

"You're the first runt here! Congratulations on making it to my hideout. Now, you lose." The minotaur boomed.

'**When fighting mini bosses, if you lose, you are not allowed reentry and lose a random item and half your col.**' A message on the top left of his vision read.

"Maybe some tips about the fucking boss?" Isa muttered.

'**The Minotaur Lord is a vicious, strong opponent. He only requires 2 guards because he does not fear anyone. Despite his tough demeanor, he is quite tactical. His death rewards much col and the one handed sword drop 'Midas Touch' ** The next message flashed in his vision.

Isa looked at the minotaur lord and smiled. "You're going down!"

He rushed at the minotaur and went for a quick slice at the creatures right leg. The minotaur swung his axe down, but Isa moved to the side quickly. The minotaur swept the axe towards Isa, dragging it across the ground and Isa went flying into the air.

Midair, above the minotaur, Isa used his momentum as he fell to pierce the minotaur's arm with his sword, taking a little bit of health away. As he touched the ground, he swung his sword, covered in orange aura now at his intended target, the minotaur's right leg, and he jumped back before his opponent could catch him.

Isa quickly rushed forward at the minotaur and clashed his sword against the minotaur's axe, making it stagger slightly. He staggered too, but recovered swiftly and sliced at the mintoaur's stomach. He didn't expect it to slice back at him and he was thrown into a rocky wall. His health was more than half gone.

He struggled to get up, but the minotaur was relentless, constantly swiping at Isa while he blocked each strike. The minotaur struck hard, and Isa's sword flew out of his hand. The minotaur struck his chest and Isa's health flew in the red. He rolled to the side and grabbed his sword.

'I don't have any options here... well, maybe one thing.' Isa thought

He stood up again and smiled. "I'm not gonna lose!"

Isa rushed against the minotaur once more, his sword glowing red and slashed at his sword, breaking his guard, then with his other hand, he sent a glowing punch, sending the minotaur staggering back. He quickly followed up by slicing again at his chest, and delivering a hard uppercut which took a reasonable amount of health away. He continued the combo, slashing and punching, then he finally delivered a punch to the minotaur's stomach that made him double over.

"I'm gonna be the strongest player in Sword Art Online!" Isa yelled, and with that, he sliced at the monster's neck.

The minotaur glowed for a moment, then burst into crystals. Isa panted, his health lower than it's ever been.

He immediately drew a health crystal out of his inventory and used it. He saw the screen for his rewards, and saw he had an item called 'Midas Touch'. Isa decided he would sell it, as he liked his current sword.

The dimly lit cave became a little brighter as the cave entrance opened. Isa walked towards the entrance and headed down the mountain.

"This seems like the beginning of a very stressful day." He commented to himself.

**5:30- Town Tavern- 1st floor**

Isa had met up with Avan and explained his adventures prior to meeting with him. Avan, while surprised, was more angry that he beat a mini boss without him.

"Damn it! I wanted to get in on some of that." Avan said to Isa.

Isa rubbed his head. "Oops. I didn't know I was going to be fighting a boss, I just went up there."

"What did you get?"

"A ton of col, and this item called 'Midas Touch'. I sold it and I got even more col." Isa said, bringing up his inventory.

Isa decided not to tell Avan about the new sword skill he had gained. On inspection, the skill was called ** 'Mixed Fighting'** and it was a unique skill. Isa was a bit disappointed that the skill wouldn't save for the actual game, but happy he got to experience it. In addition to sword skills, he now had 3 skills in total. Acrobatics- which was level 50/1000, Searching- which was level 60/1000, and Extended Weight Limit- which was 50/1000. He was level 25 now, from farming and beating that boss.

Avan sighed. "Lucky."

"Anyway, where is-"

Isa was cut off by a man spawning right in front of the spot where they were sitting. It was Xale from yesterday.

"Hello there." Xale said, pulling up a chair and sitting at the table they resided at.

There was an awkward silence for a bit, and then Isa cleared his throat. "I know who you are."

Xale smiled. "Well you can see that over my head, now can't you?"

"Exla."

Xale slammed his hand on the table. "Be careful throwing that name around here."

"What do you want with us?"

Xale relaxed, and sat back in his chair. "To help you."

"I know you don't really want to help us." Isa said, glaring at him.

"And how would you know that? You come to me, saying you know who I am, implying you've been studying me, but I've been studying you." Xale said, tone serious.

"And exactly what does that mean?" Isa questioned.

"I know you've played other VRMMO's, I know you've been a top player on some of those games. I know that you've been a top player on some MMO's on the PC, and I've been in some games with you, under a different name. You know this." Xale said.

"I know you that you've cleared bosses in this game that you shouldn't have been able to clear at this level." Xale went on.

Avan looked at Isa in shock.

"What does that matter to you, you can just cheat your way through it." Isa said coldly.

Xale laughed. "Look. I don't hate the legitimate players. They hate me. I only showed up is to warn you. Be wary of this game. I found some...unsettling things to say the least upon in depth research of this code. I only came to you, because you are the only one who would give me a chance, most likely."

Isa stood up. "What kind of unsettling things?"

Xale drew back his middle and index fingers and opened his menu. After a few moments, Isa received a friend request.

"I can't say anything exactly right now. But just keep in touch with me just in case."

Isa hesitated for a moment, then pressed the O that signified the accept button.

"You better not be lying Ex-"

"Don't." Xale cut him off.

Xale walked out of the tavern. Isa looked at Avan, who had an astounded look on his face.

"Who the hell is that?" Avan asked, when out of shock.

"That's one of the famous hackers, Exla. I've been in games with him before, in this MMO called Dire Ascension. We led a raid together before I knew he was a hacker. He was banned, but unbanned himself and gave all his items to me, before letting himself become banned again. He said that I have a better use for them." Isa explained.

Avan stood up. "What do you think he meant by unsettling things?"

"I wish I knew." 

Avan walked towards the tavern exit. "Well, let's forget that until we have to deal with it. Let's go kill this floor boss."

This, however, was a bigger challenge than said, and they spent hours carrying out the task of finding this room.

**Floor 1 - Boss Room**

After several hours of searching for the boss room in the fields, Isa and Avan finally found the first floor boss room. By then, they leveled up once or twice and used up a health crystal. Isa and Avan were the only two walking in the boss room, which was surprising to them. On entry, they saw 4 enemies.

3 of the enemies were small, red creatures that donned silver armor. They held huge halberds and stood in a fighting position.

Their names read '**Ruin Kobold Sentinel'**

The 4th enemy was a much larger one. Larger than Isa and Avan combined and substantially larger than it's minions.

It's name read '**Illfang the Kobold Lord**' and he had a red cursor over his head. This Illfang had a large, one sided axe in his hand, and a shield on the other. He was red too, but only had a purple cloth covering his waist. His tail thumped against the ground angrily.

"That's the boss, I'm assuming?" Isa said to Avan.

Illfang gave out a large roar. His minions seemed to get on edge, moving back and forth.

"I'd say so." Avan said back.

Then, Isa rushed towards one sentinel, drawing his sword. Avan shot an arrow as soon as Isa struck the minion, making it stagger.

"We've already won!" Isa shouted.

**Short Chapter, so I'll try to get an update out by Saturday. This ends the beta scenes, simply because I can't go any farther with the beta, it'll be too repetitive. Again, next chapter, I will add things in that never happened in the game, quests, weapons, bosses. If you don't like it, just go read another story, or better yet go watch Sword Art Online.**


End file.
